Poor Phil Kent.The conservative commentator was the fall guy in one of the more bizarre moments to date in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign.It was partly Kent’s fault — we’ll get to that shortly — but he apparently was set up, by whom it’s not yet clear.But first some background.As everyone who’s paying attention knows, Democrat Roy Barnes has posted online 25 years worth of income tax returns.And the former governor’s been hounding Republican nominee Nathan Deal to do the same. Barnes hopes that will turn up something that supports various ethics charges a

Republican governor hopeful Nathan Deal is under scrutiny — this week, at least — because of his income taxes.Democrat Roy Barnes, among others, doesn’t think Deal paid enough.Published accounts say he paid only about 2 percent of his adjusted gross income in 2006 and 2007. The average for his bracket, it’s been reported, is around 17 percent.Deal says he’s paid all the taxes he’s required to.

By now, you’re hearing trash talk about the Roy Barnes campaign.How, some folks ask, could he have lost — by a double-digit margin — to Nathan Deal?You know: the guy whose congressional office at times looked like it was a wholly owned subsidiary of his auto salvage and disposal business.The guy who had to explain how — given the hue of his own balance sheets — they wouldn’t have to ration red ink if he were governor. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, as the late Yul Brynner said in the “King and I.” Or so the argument went.The simple truth, though, is Barnes ra

Remember that $250,000 Eric Johnson loaned to his campaign for governor?The former Republican state senator from Savannah never spent it.His campaign finance reports show the campaign repaid him $200,000 on July 27.A week before, he ran third in a seven-way primary — behind former Secretary of State Karen Handel and former congressman Nathan Deal.Deal, of course, beat Handel in a runoff and Democrat Roy Barnes in the general election.Well before the general — on Sept.

John Barrow supported a Democrat for U.S. House Speaker on Wednesday, but not the leading Democratic candidate.The Savannah Democrat voted for Rep. John Lewis of Georgia instead of outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.In a vote that was a foregone conclusion except for the exact total, Republican John Boehner of Ohio defeated Pelosi, 241-173.The GOP leader has been the speaker in waiting since the Republicans won control of the House in the Nov. 2 elections.All 241 Republicans voted for Boehner, but about 20 Democrats failed to support Pelosi.